On the waves of our memory

Radio Pobeda is a unique project the likes of which have not been seen before

Memorise this frequency — 96.2 FM — and tune your receivers to it! Radio Pobeda [Victory] now broadcasts on this frequency — a radio station for those who cherish the history of our country and the memory of its most formidable and great days. Songs of the war years, chronicles of the Great Patriotic War, archival recordings, classic poems, original projects — all of this is now on the air 24/7.

There have not been any radio stations of this format in Belarus before: the project of the Belarus Segodnya Publishing House is unique. A distinctive atmosphere, a ‘valve amp’ retro sound — Radio Pobeda has already won over its fans as an internet project.
“This story began in 2023, when, for the May 9th celebrations, the Belarus Segodnya Publishing House and Alfa Radio launched a joint online project — an internet radio station called Pobeda,” recounted Vadim Shepet, Head of Radio Broadcasting at Alfa Radio. “At some point, enough material accumulated that had been broadcast on Alfa Radio, and we decided: it would be a good idea to compile this material separately, single it out into a separate internet stream, supplement and diversify it with songs and special inserts. And so, on the eve of May 9th, 2023, we launched Radio Pobeda on the website radiopobeda.by. After a while, we started receiving positive and very pleasant feedback, not only from within our republic, but also from many CIS countries. People wrote to us, asked for a link to our website, and searched for it themselves... We realised that Radio Pobeda was in demand, and started filling it with new content.” 
In addition to military songs and chronicles, archive summaries from the Soviet Information Bureau appeared on the air. The voice of legendary Yuri Levitan — the renowned All-Union Radio announcer reading the news from the fronts of the Great Patriotic War — is familiar not only to the wartime generation but to all post-war generations too. One after another, home-grown projects were also created: Songs of Victory — stories behind the songs of the war years, compiled with retro recordings of the compositions; Poems about War, where classic verses are read not by professional actors but by ordinary people, journalists from the Belarus Segodnya Publishing House; and other programmes. 
“The internet stream existed in this format for two years, and given the colossal demand from the public, both Belarusian and beyond, the decision was made to launch Radio Pobeda in the FM broadcast spectrum,” shared Vadim Shepet. “The frequency on which we launched on April 25th, 2025 is 96.2 FM. We fully understand that Radio Pobeda is a rather niche radio station, and that it is the first such venture in our country. We have gathered patriotic songs and wartime songs on the air, and all the programmes that used to be broadcast online have also moved to the FM band. Most importantly, we are preserving the truth about the Great Patriotic War, about the Great Victory, and we are talking about what happened during the war years, including in the contemporary journalism language. Regarding the selection of musical material, I have listened to over 500 compositions dedicated to the Great Patriotic War. At this stage, we have selected about 250 songs in their original sound. Yes, it is a bit retro, but with modern, high-quality processing, thankfully technology allows for it. We have remastered a lot of songs and still faced the fact that a huge number of recordings from that era are impossible to broadcast due to their quality. Perhaps we will manage to resolve this issue somehow later. We also play modern Belarusian performers, such as Victoria Aleshko, Janet, and our classic pop — the Pesnyary band, Anatoly Yarmolenko… It is clear that all the compositions are stylistically selected to fit Radio Pobeda. What unites these songs is the depth of meaning and the mood.”

Radio Pobeda audio box         Aleksandr Kulevsky

It is not enough to start well — you have to continue well. Therefore, the creators of Radio Pobeda have already decided on their future plans. True, not all the secrets are ready to be revealed yet, but Vadim Shepet has admitted that listeners can expect a lot of new projects ahead, “Of course, the most important thing is that, having launched the radio station, we have a clear understanding of how to further develop its content. We already have a specific list of projects that we won’t reveal just yet, but we want to tell our listeners that it will be interesting. These projects include topics about weaponry from the Great Patriotic War — a series of programmes is almost ready. Quotes from historical figures dedicated to the Great Patriotic War — for example, Marshal Georgy Zhukov, Winston Churchill — are already broadcast in our programmes. Also, we definitely plan to supplement the broadcast with programmes that will focus on the Belarusian history of the Great Victory, recounting the stories of heroes who fought on the territory of our country, as well as of the partisans of Belarus.

The topic of preserving history, protecting it from distortion, cherishing the memory of the Great Patriotic War is crucial in Belarus like nowhere else: you won’t find a family here untouched by the war. For people who value their history, honour the memory of the heroic deeds of their grandfathers and great-grandfathers, such a fresh and original format as Radio Pobeda will undoubtedly be in demand.”  

The FM broadcasting, which the radio station switched to in the lead-up to May 9th and the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory, will still be complemented by the option to connect online via the website radiopobeda.by and through the national media player. So everyone can choose how and where they prefer to listen to Radio Pobeda.
Furthermore, the radio station is confidently moving into the offline world, expanding its presence, as noted by Vadim Shepet, “Our interesting feature is audio boxes, designed to ensure that Radio Pobeda is distributed not only in the FM space and via the internet. We have specifically created them to popularise the project, our history and our war songs. Thus, such an audio box will be located in the First [Pershy] National Trading House and in the Pobeda cinema — this is a good opportunity for anyone who wants to, including young people, to listen to the melodies of the war years, soak up the atmosphere and get in the mood. I am confident that the radio station has a bright, good future ahead. We are ready to develop and expand it. Radio Pobeda will allow us to preserve the memory of the Great Patriotic War in such an unusual format.” 

Order of Victory, the highest military decoration in the USSR         Aleksandr Kulevsky

By Irina Ovsepyan